Driving North to the Bay of Islands

Before we hit the road, we made a stop at the local supermarket to pick up some rations for the drive and lunch. Greg discovered meat-flavored potato chips and picked up 2 bags of chips: honey soy chicken and chargrilled beef with black pepper. He says the chargrilled beef chips taste like beef ramen noodles. I bet the chicken chips taste like chicken ramen noodles.

We found our way to SH1 pretty easily and soon we were driving through rolling, green hillsides with cows and sheep grazing on the pastures. We took a small detour to visit Whangarei Falls. It drops 25 meters into a brush-rimmed pool. There's a walking trail that takes you along the river and through fields of wildflowers and a grove of trees. After our short hike, we got back on the road to the Bay of Islands.

After another hour of driving, we arrived at our destination, Paihia. It’s a small, sleepy beach town right next to the water. Our accommodations for the evening: the Saltwater Lodge, a cool backpackers hostel. We visited the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, overlooking the Bay of Islands. Waitangi is historically significant because the first treaty between the Maori people and the British Crown was signed here in 1840. The treaty is how the Maori people get screwed by the British. There's an amazing Maori meeting house and war canoe. The war canoe is over 30 meters long and was built from three kauri trees. It's huge!

We’d love to post pictures, but we’re having trouble finding WiFi access here. As soon as we find an internet cafe or something, we'll post pictures.